Architecture decision making is considered one of the most challenging
cognitive tasks in software development. The objective of this study is to
explore the state of the practice of architecture decision making in software
teams, including the role of the architect and the associated challenges. An
exploratory case study was conducted in a large software company in Europe and
fifteen software architects were interviewed as the primary method of data
collection. The results reveal that the majority of software teams make
architecture decisions collaboratively. Especially, the consultative decision-
making style is preferred as it helps to make decisions efficiently while
taking the opinions of the team members into consideration. It is observed that
most of the software architects maintain a close relationship with the software
teams. Several organisational, process and human related challenges and their
impact on architecture decision-making are also identified